Report: Dangerous Forest Fires in Indonesia, Smoke Headed
for Singapore
4/30/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Report: Dangerous Forest Fires in Indonesia, Smoke Headed
for Singapore
Source: The Associated Press
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: April 30, 1999
SINGAPORE (AP) -- Forest fires in Indonesia have reached a dangerous
level, and large smoke plumes were blowing toward Singapore on
Friday, a news report said.
The fires were raising fears that the thick haze that choked parts of
Southeast Asia last year may be returning.
The smog has become a seasonal problem during the area's mid-year dry
season, when plantation companies set fires as a cheap but illegal
way to clear land.
Satellite images showed 43 "hot spots," or fire areas, across the
Indonesian island of Sumatra, the Television Corporation of Singapore
said.
The fires have reached the "dangerous category," the report quoted an
official from Indonesia's Environmental Impact Control Agency as
saying.
Fires were also detected in Indonesia's Kaimantan province on the
island of Borneo, the report said.
Flames destroyed huge areas of forest last year in Indonesia, and
smoke haze caused health problems and hurt tourism in neighboring
Singapore and Malaysia.
Experts meeting at a pollution conference in Singapore earlier this
week said the especially fine particles from the fires pose a risk of
heart disease and lung cancer.
Indonesia has warned that its current economic crisis and political
chaos have left it with few resources to fight fires or enforce anti-
burning laws.